What’s Happening Now? Last Week’s Biggest IT Industry Moves

Changes in executive leadership happen for a myriad of reasons, but it all boils down to performance. New IT leaders are brought in to inspire positive growth, lay the groundwork for departmental changes, improve efficiency, and/or fix a broken system. Newly hired C-suite executives, who are under immense pressure to perform in their first few months of tenure, create a prime opportunity for selling.

Leadership changes provide unique and favorable circumstances to connect. It is during these transitions that new executives are most likely to be receptive to your call. Knowing about the organization’s current pain points and initiatives will also provide you context for having a meaningful conversation.

A recent study conducted by DiscoverOrg shows that 25% of CIOs who had been in their position for less than a year said that they spent over $1 million in new vendors and services, and 71% of those did so in their first three months of tenure.

Check out what our in-house research team has been busy uncovering in the last week:

These Companies All Had Huge Leadership Changes:

Darrell Thompson has been named Vice President, Information Technology for Coca-Cola Bottling and now serves as the head of IT following the departure of Onyeka Nchege. Previously, Thompson served as the company’s Manager, Information Technology Systems & Services Strategy. Sources have indicated that the company is interested in increasing investment in business intelligence initiatives that will support data insights throughout the company. Coca-Cola Bottling currently leverages SAP Hana, Tableau, and PowerPivot solutions.

The State of Washington recently named Alexander (Alex) Alben as Chief Privacy Officer. In this role, Alben will report to the CIO and will be responsible for evaluating privacy policies throughout state agencies. Washington is currently experiencing challenges related to a computer error that caused 13,000 users to be overcharged for health insurance premiums. The state has shown an increased interest in hiring IT employees with COBOL experience to support the maintenance of agency systems in an effort to save money that would be spent on out-of-state consulting services.

Scott Howitt recently joined MGM Resorts International as Chief Information Security Officer. Previously, Howitt served as Chief Information Security Officer at JCPenney. Sources indicate an increase in spending toward business intelligence tools at the company. MGM Resorts is currently planning company-wide efforts to identify new suppliers and develop program implementations for IT services and products.

These Companies All Started Big Initiatives:

Michaels Stores in planning to invest approximately $5 million towards IT initiatives related to data center migrations, mobility, and disaster recovery. Sources have indicated an increased interest towards IT initiatives related to the development and improvement of data center infrastructure and service oriented architecture (SOA) solutions. Sources have also indicated an interest towards migrating data center services to a new-co-location provider.

Sources have indicated that Kroger has increased investment towards technology initiatives, which will support the expansion of digital capabilities in an effort to enhance customer experiences. The company has also recently increased interest toward big data, customer master data management (MDM), and collaborative analytics initiatives. Kroger is currently in the midst of a technology transformation as the company migrates Computer Assisted Ordering (CAO) & Store Point-of-Sale Movement Consolidation (Motus) applications to Java technologies and web-based solutions.

Sources have indicated that L Brands has an increased interest in initiatives for IT as a services (ITaaS), including the automation of server provisioning and VMware cloud infrastructure. L Brands is planning to develop a self-service provisioning portal to support the company’s IT as a Service (ITaaS) efforts. The company has indicated an interest in initiatives related to the enhancement of the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) procedures and architecture.

Research shows that the first seller in the door wins the business over 70% of the time. DiscoverOrg analysts are uncovering 1,000s of Triggers like these every week. Don’t spend Q2 playing catch up. Get in front of these opportunities by having the latest projects and initiatives at your fingertips coupled with direct dial contact information to get in touch with the right person, at the right time.